1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the maintenance of water facilities and particularly, to the optimization of oxidizing compounds to sanitize such water facilities.
2. Description of the Related Art
Water or aquatic systems such as swimming pools, spas, hot tubs, including towers, have a variety of associated maintenance and quality related issues. For example, such aquatic systems require diligent maintenance to prevent bacterial and viral contamination. The use of chemical compounds as sanitizers has been used to maintain the sanitization of such systems. The addition of halogen donor compounds can sanitize such aquatic systems under certain conditions. However, the use of chemical sanitizers may be inadequate to address various operating and loading conditions associated with such aquatic systems. For example, the organic loading in a swimming pool may vary depending on the number of users.
Efforts to address such issues have been disclosed. For example, Steininger, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,740, suggests the use of monitoring the oxidation-reduction potential (ORP) as a method of measuring the sanitization levels in water. Martin, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,143,184, describes controlling a halogen-based oxidizer using a qualitative measure of ORP control to achieve conversion of organic material to nitrogen. Also, Martin, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,149,819, describes a process for optimizing the rate of oxidation using a combination of halogen and peroxygen.
Aquatic systems having high loadings may tend to form volatile halogenated by-products, even with the use of continuous breakpoint halogenation. The use of peroxygen compounds can reduce the concentration of free halogen needed to sustain a desired ORP in such systems. Nevertheless, some organic compounds are not readily oxidized by such peroxygen compounds.